Israel Conducts 2 Attacks in Lebanon

Special to The New York Times

Published: December 27, 1989

JERUSALEM, Dec. 26—
Israeli warplanes bombed and apparently destroyed a Lebanese Communist Party base south of Beirut today shortly after a ground attack by an elite paratroop unit on another Communist Party camp in southern Lebanon, the army said.

''The bases of the Communist Party, which were being used for terrorist activity against Israel, were hit and destroyed,'' an army spokeswoman said, referring to the overnight ground attack.

''At least four terrorists were killed but we suffered no injuries,'' she said.

Lebanese sources and Israeli radio said the troops were backed by helicopter gunships, tanks and artillery in the ground attack at Nabi Safi, 20 miles north of the border with Israel, but the army refused to confirm or deny the reports. Three Reported Killed

Later, the army said Israeli warplanes had returned safely after destroying another target north of Sidon. News agency reports from Beirut said three people were killed and 15 wounded in the air strike on the village of Rmaileh, 20 miles south of Beirut. Israel accuses the Lebanese Communist Party of supporting guerrilla operations against Israel.

The raid by ground troops against the guerrilla bases at Nabi Safi, deep in Lebanese territory, is the first of its kind by Israeli forces in more than a year, the army said. The air strike was the 15th into Lebanon this year.

The Lebanese Communist Party is accused by the army of the attempted assassination of Gen. Antoine Lahad, the commander of the Israeli-backed South Lebanon Army.

While the Israelis attacked north of the border, a state-owned Israeli bus carrying Arab workers was commandeered in Israel and torched in a West Bank village, police said.

All 50 passengers and the driver escaped from the bus unharmed just before Palestinian youths poured gasoline inside and sent it up in flames. 'My Hair Was Singed'

The bus driver, Muhammed Abu Rabiyeh, 47 years old, said, ''My hair was singed as I ran from the bus.''

A Palestinian youth riding the bus rose from his seat near the Megiddo Junction, 15 miles southeast of the coastal city of Haifa where the bus was heading. Holding an axe to the driver's neck, the youth ordered him to drive back to the West Bank village of Salafa, Mr. Rabiyeh said.

''I had to do what he said because I was afraid that he would hit me over the head,'' he added. ''When I stopped, panic broke out in the bus. Everyone wanted to leave.''

The incident today was unusual because it started within Israel itself. Israeli forces have generally succeeded in preventing the two-year Palestinian revolt in the occupied territories from spilling into Israel.

In the occupied West Bank, a 29-year-old Palestinian died of gunshot wounds in his chest sustained last night in a clash with Israeli troops.

In addition, a former policeman in the territories was shot in the head and seriously wounded in Hebron today, apparently because Palestinians suspected him of cooperating with Israeli authorities. Lebanese Police Reports

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Dec. 26 (Special to The New York Times) - The atttack by Israeli air and ground forces on Lebanese Communist guerrilla bases in southern Lebanon killed seven people and demolished a number of buildings, the police said today.

Witnesses in the village of Rmaileh said Israeli aircraft fired rockets that wrecked a number of buildings. The police and hospitals said 4 people were killed and 21 injured in the raid.

In the ground attack on the village of Nabi Safa, three guerrillas were killed, four were wounded and three were missing, the Communist Party said. The Communists said 75 Israeli soldiers backed by four tanks and several armored cars carried out the assault.

Rmaileh is a few miles west of the district of Iqlim al-Toffah, where the Party of God, a pro-Iranian Shiite Muslim fundamentalist group, has been fighting against Amal, a pro-Syrian Shiite militia, for the last four days .

The Party of God gained control of yet another village, Jarjouh, in battles today, in which tanks, artillery and mortars were used. They have overrun four villages since the fighting erupted Saturday.

In Muslim West Beirut, a huge car bomb was discovered and defused today minutes before it was rigged to go off, the police said. The booby-trapped vehicle was parked between the radio station and the office of Prime Minister Selim al-Hoss, an area patrolled by Syrian soldiers. Police said the car had been packed with more than 150 pounds of explosives.

Photo of the wreckage of a Lebanese Communist Party base south of Beirut after it was destroyed yesterday by Israeli planes. (AP); map of Lebanon (NYT)